You will either find rationality in irrationality or irrationality in rationality here. Just depends upon who you are!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Math the Ripper

"I have a few conditions before I say
yes", K said staring at the pipe and exhaling the weed smoke out of his
nose. He would have said yes anyways. He had actually made up his mind the
moment he had laid his hands on the copies of the three pink slips. He peered
at one of them. "The
sum of the digits of a number is 23. What will be the remainder when this
number is divided by 9?" it read. The game was shouting out loud to be
played. It was an enticing invitation and he was not going to make a pass at
it. There was plenty in it for K already but he knew he could make more. An
equation has two sides but there is only one that controls it. He knew the side
he belonged to. He looked at Vichitr, the frail man seated in front of him. He
wore black colored cheap plastic glasses that were too big for his small face.
His hair were uncombed and he had his shirt completely buttoned up. K had not
recognized him when he saw him that afternoon. After all, he was meeting him
after seven years.

"Please tell me." Vichitr said
worriedly. The smoke made him weary.

"One, you won't interrupt me when I'm
speaking. When I talk my brain cells are in full fervor and I don't like it
when someone or something disturbs that flow."

"Clear?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Two, I'll only talk to you about the proceedings
and no one else, not even your dad."

"But.." Vichitr remarked but
before he could even start K got up from his chair.

"What did I tell you? Never interrupt
me." he said irksomely. "I don't want to be answerable to anyone. You
should be thankful that I have been kind enough to help you. I'm sure you can
convince your dad. You'll be my messenger to converse with the police
department."

"OK" he said. Helplessness reeked
all over his body.

"Great. You were always a quick
learner. Three, I will have access to all the police information related to
this case."

"Four, I will quit the day I want to.
No questions asked."

He paused for a moment. Vichitr wanted to
say something but he simply nodded and ate up his words.

From the day he had started hunting for K
to that very moment he knew it was not going to be easy. K, the idol, the Maths
teacher, the favorite teacher. Several years ago he was the only student who
wanted K to stay when the school had decided to throw him out. K was mostly
disliked in the school. Most of his students pissed in their pants when he
asked them a question, few when he stepped in the classroom. He had this habit
of suddenly pointing at a student and popping up a question. It was not that he
beat his pupils to pulp if they failed to answer, it was his demeanour
and his eyes that made most of the students in the class pray that they were
invisible. He had the unique ability to suck the confidence out of anyone he
stared at with his devilish pointed eyebrows. His fellow teachers, especially
males, loathed him. First, he preferred to remain aloof and didn't mingle with
them. Second, he had his ways with women. He was not a universal charmer but he
knew the right buttons, buttons that most men are unaware of, that needed to be
pushed when he decided to chase someone. In short, most of them wanted him out
of the school. He was too suave to give them that opportunity though. None of
the tricks would work with him. The open-ended Mathematics exam that he setup
however caused a commotion amongst the students, their parents and teachers that
ultimately lead to his exit. Only one student was thrilled by that exam. It was
the student who was convinced that only K could find the killer. It was the
student who was sitting in front of him now.

"Five, I'll get single malts and
cigarettes as perks apart from the meager daily allowance that you have offered
me."

"Six, you will arrange non-vegetarian
food, food that tastes like what you had today, for my lunch and dinner unless
it's a day of the month that's prime. I keep a fast on those days. I'll like
seafood on days that are multiples of six. That's something I miss here."

"OK" Vichitr said.

"Last but not the least, the perks and
the food are for two people, as Creativity will be staying with me."

"Creativity?"

"She is the woman who picked up the
phone when you had called for the first time."

"Is she your wife?"

"No."

"Are you married?" Vichitr asked.

"No, I don't repeat my mistakes."
K chuckled. Vichitr smiled as well.

"Is Creativity your girlfriend? What a
name! Creativity."

"She is not my girlfriend the way the
world defines a girlfriend. She is the vulnerable space that I need to visit to
charge my batteries. She sucks me and my neurons begin to move. For the lack of
any better word though let's just say she is my girlfriend. Creativity is the
name I gave her, for her creativity in bed. Besides I have solved many a
problems while in the act. An ejaculation followed by another one."

Vichitr smiled again.

He got up and said, "I agree to all
your terms. I have one condition too."

"Shoot."

"You will let me know the day you feel
that you are not going to find the killer."

K nodded. "Why don't you stay here
tonight?" he asked.

"No, I better get going."

"Stay." K said firmly.

Vichitr had not known about K's whereabouts
after his unceremonious departure from the school. He was in class XII when K
was kicked out. He missed attending his class immensely, the brilliance, the
ability to answer any of his questions, his search to find that one question
that would stump K, but life as the cliché goes, moves on. Seven years later he
found himself working in a multinational software company. His life was
chugging along smoothly. Life-is-good however is nothing but a signal for a
danger that's lurking around the corner. His good friend was killed followed by
two more murders in the town. All the murders followed the same
pattern. A slashed neck, a pink slip at the murder location, and each slip with
a question. When the similarities emerged Vichitr was reminded of K. The
questions were reminiscent of the questions that K used to randomly shoot in his
class. He told his police officer dad who was a close friend to the officer who
was handling the case about the uncanny similarity. What did these questions
mean? How were the questions linked to the murders? The police were struggling
to find the answers. Vichitr convinced his dad who in turn convinced his friend
that K could crack open the case and help police nab the killer. It took them a
week to find him. K had moved to a small town Sattal in the mountains of Uttarakhand
and had become a teacher there. Vichitr knew that persuading K to help the
police was going to be a difficult proposition and he took the onus of this
responsibility. K didn't pay any heed to the initial set of phone calls he made
but the mention of pink slips intrigued him and he agreed to meet him. He
hadn't changed much. The long hair that he used to keep years ago were trimmed
down. The strands of grey hair were visible. His face had some adipose
deposited and he had probably gained some weight. Vichitr remembered those eyes
though, very clearly. The
demeanourhadn't changed as
well. There was still an air of awesomeness around him that pulled Vichitr
towards him.

Creativity arrived that evening. She was
drop-dead-in-one-second gorgeous. Her cheeks resembled a fresh red apple lying
on a newly laid snow. The curly hair strands swung like a pendulum when she
walked. She was slightly plump but it suited her firm round breasts and
seductive smile.

"No wonder, thy name is Creativity.
God must have used a lot of his creative mojo creating you." he said and
bowed. She said thanks sheepishly. They had drinks in the open, by the fire.

"What is your age?" K asked. "And
before you tell me, remember, your age is a funny number, one only needs to
know it once."

"Twenty four, but I still feel like a
kid, as they say, age is all in the mind."

K laughed. "Age is not in the mind my
friend, it's in the bones."

"When I was looking for your house
this morning, the locals didn't know you by your name, they call you professor.
Why is that?"

"May be I am too old to be called a
teacher."

They laughed heartily together. It was over
dinner that Vichitr got to the point.

"So, professor, what do you think
about the killer?"

"I don't know more than what you have
told me. Slashed necks, the Maths questions, and all male victims. I'd need to
go through their profiles and read other findings but I can tell you two
things."

He sipped on his single malt. "First,
the killer is a male."

"Why?"

"A woman who is good at Mathematics
doesn't need a knife to kill."

He raised a toast to Creativity.

"Second, the guy is single."

Vichitr raised an eyebrow.

"Married men are predictable, women they
remain the same. Predictability is a murderer's bane. In the end, it's all
about probabilities. Don't be surprised if we end up finding that the killer is
a fifty year old, mother of two. The world runs on probabilities. You drive
your car to work every day or fly on an airplane not because you wouldn't meet
with an accident or the plane won't crash. It's because you trust and hope that
the probability is on your side."

The meat was delicious and so was
professor's monologue. Vichitr devoured on both of them. He was reminded of his
school days.

"We need a name for the killer. I have
already thought of one. Math the Ripper!" K grinned and chewed upon the
chicken leg.

Vichitr drove back the next morning. He
left the copies of the slips with K. He and Creativity would join him in two
days. K looked at the three questions once again and started to pack his bags. "Any
schoolboy can solve these" he thought. What had the killings got to do with
these questions? The hunt for Math the Ripper had begun.

The
sum of the digits of a number is 23. What will be the remainder when this
number is divided by 9?

Starting
from k, add n consecutive numbers. Multiply the sum by 2. Divide it by n.
Subtract n. The result is 5. What is k?

A
number is a perfect square. The unit's digit is a prime number. What is the
ten's digit?

K arrived in town with Creativity as
promised. Vichitr had arranged an apartment for the two of them in Noida, a
small and lazy town located to the east of New Delhi, part of the National
Capital Region. It was the town where two of the three murders had occurred.
Vichitr had picked up an apartment close to his office so that he could meet K
on a daily basis. It had taken some convincing but his dad had agreed to all
the terms K had set. The Maths murders had become a national sensation and his
department could use any help to solve the case as soon as possible. K had two
months to either nab the killer or show some lead for the contract to continue.
Vichitr took them out to dinner the first night and handed over the copies of
the police files for all the three murders.

"I want to solve this and go back to
my sweet little town as soon as possible. The buggers won't let me smoke here."
he said annoyingly. "In any case, there is an important piece of
information that I forgot to ask or rather I should say confirm the other day.
The order in which these murders occurred." he said. He got the three
chits out of his pocket. He placed them on the table next to each other and
asked, "I have not yet seen the files but isn't this the order?"

Vichitr looked and exclaimed, "How did
you guess that?"

"Two, three, five. It looks like our
friend is playing a series." K replied gulping down his scotch.

"A series, oh my God, I never thought
about it. Two, three, five."

He paused for a moment and then said,
"Eight."

"May be." K said. "It could
be eight, it could be nine, who knows. The next number will surely give us an
insight."

His wish was just about to be answered.
Vichitr's phone was buzzing. It was his dad. There had been one more murder.
Not very far away from where they were eating. They rushed to the murder site.

The twenty minute drive was enough for K to
scan through the case files. There wasn't a lot of information. It contained
their personal profiles, pictures, post mortem reports and statements from
family/friends. Gaurav, 26 years. Rahul, 25 years. Saurabh, 27 years.

"Gaurav was your friend,
correct?" K asked.

Vichitr nodded. K observed the rush hour
traffic, the high beam lights, honks, rickshaws and vehicles of all kinds
floating in all directions akin to players on a football field. It irked him.

"Did he work with you?"

"Yes, we were in the same team."

"What do you guys exactly do?"

"Our company creates software for
banks. We write code. The world calls us developers, at times coders."

"What did the other victims do for
living?"

"They worked in IT companies in the
area."

"What exactly though they worked on as
part of their jobs?"

"I don't know. We can find out. Why do
you ask?"

"I'm just trying to find out if our
friend has a liking that can reveal something about him."

It was difficult getting through the crowd
of two hundred odd people that had gathered at the murder site. The street
lights shone bright and there were plenty of dogs around doing what they do the
best. The victim's name was Shoaib. His dead body was found lying on the
pavement by a drunkard. The police were talking to the poor guy who was
trembling with fear. There were no signs of any struggle at the site. It
appeared as if the victim was caught off guard and he didn't know what hit him
till it hit him. The police officer handed Vichitr the office identity card
that the victim wore around his neck. The neck was marooned with gallons of
blood that had spurted out from it.

"We have scanned the area around and
have taken some statements. I will pass on the copies to you tomorrow. No lead
so far."

"Did you find any pink slip?" K
asked.

"Yes, we found it in his pocket."

K pounced upon it. He scanned through it in a hurry. "I had feared that it would be eight."
he said annoyingly.

"Eight?" the police officer
commented.

"Did you not solve the problem?"

"I get paid to solve the case, not any
other problem."

"Moron." K said to himself.

They were on their way back to K's
apartment. "Eight, that makes it clear, doesn't it?" Vichitr said.

"What do you think is the next
number?" K frowned.

"Twelve. Two, Three, Five, Eight.
Twelve."

"It could be thirteen as well. Do you
remember the Fibonacci numbers? That's why I didn't want it to be eight. For
that matter given any series of numbers, one can never be sure what the next
number is. If you see ten 1's in a row it doesn't mean that the next number is
a 1 too. It simply means that the chances of it being 1 are high."

They reached his apartment. He fixed a
quick drink for all of them. "I need to think and need to put my mind in a
comfortable place."

He asked Vichitr to figure out a few facts
for him while he took the trance tour. He made a joint for himself and smoked
it gazing at the black starless sky. He called out for Creativity and made love
to her trying to ignite his brain cells. His thoughts were convoluted and he
needed to start from scratch. When he was a kid, his dad had once forcefully enrolled
him for soccer coaching. He bailed out in a month but there was one lesson that
he learned there that helped him throughout his life.

"When in confusion, get the ball to
square one."

That's what he needed to do here. He dressed
and came back to the living room where Vichitr was waiting for him. Creativity
had slept off.

"Were you able to figure out what
exactly these guys did as part of their jobs?"

"Yes, there is a pattern here. They
were all coders."

"Do you remember the open ended exam
that I had planned when you were in school?" K asked. Seven years ago, a
week prior to the mid-term examinations K had announced that the Maths exam
would be open ended. It meant that there was no time limit. One could sit and
continue solving the problems for as long as they wanted to. It was up to the
student to call it quits. Besides being an open ended exam it was announced
that it was open book too. Students were allowed to carry their books, any
notes, guides, whatever they could muster that would help them answer the
questions. The students could carry food as well, as much as they wanted to.
The school principal, fellow teachers and the parents had used this theory,
that they deemed stupid to pave his exit from the school. Vichitr remembered it
vividly. He nodded.

"That's what this mystery seems to me,
an open ended exam."

"I need to get to the root of it to
solve it. You need to find me a job in your company, a job that will allow me
to be in the company of the coders."

"What are you talking about?"

"If I have to make headway, I have to
understand the prey. The prey's mind will lead me to the ripper's. That's the
only way."

"It's not that easy. Why would anyone
give you a job? You have no credentials. I can probably introduce you to my
friends who write code. Will that help?"

"That won't work. I need to be with
them at work."

"But.."

"Do as I say. I know you can pull strings.
It's a matter of two months only. Besides, I don't want them to pay me for my
duties."

Vichitr got up shaking his head. He had no
choice.

As he had expected his dad was immensely
annoyed when he heard the latest request. "Dad, we could have never
thought of the series, hell, the police didn't even try to answer those
questions. It's a matter of a few months only. I'm sure there are undercover
agents in your police force that are working as common men somewhere. Why is this
big deal?"

"I think I have made a mistake. I
shouldn't have agreed to bring him here at the first place on. He is just
shooting in the dark. What purpose will it solve if he works with you
guys?"

"I trust him. He is trying to get to
the root of the evil. His ways are queer but he is a genius. Give him a chance
dad. You have got nothing to lose."

It was arranged. Two management members in
Vichitr's company were made aware of the police investigations. They were
hesitant initially but agreed to induct K in the company after the police
assured them. K joined the office three days later. He spent those three days going
through basic programming books that he had borrowed from Vichitr. Vichitr also
gave him his old personal laptop. K enjoyed the three days that he spent
learning to ensure that he could play his part in the office. He requested for
a seat that was far away from Vichitr, not to raise any suspicions. He had got
his hair further trimmed to look a bit younger than he was. He was inducted in
a different team and was introduced to his team members on the first day. His
team consisted of four members. Raman, the manager. Payal, the lead programmer.
Amit and Ankit, the two developers. He was told by Raman that he would be
working very closely with Amit and Ankit. He guessed that they must have been
between 24 to 28 years old apart from Raman who seemed to be in his early
thirties.

Amit and Ankit took him out for lunch and
as expected asked him some uncomfortable questions. He had come prepared
though. "What was the last company that you worked for?" Amit asked. "I
did not work for any. I used to be a teacher. I got bored and quit. That was
three years ago. Since then I have been looking for an answer."

"What answer?" Ankit asked.

"What is it that I really want to
do?" K replied and waited for it to sink in. Amit and Ankit started
laughing in unison. K kept a straight face.

"So you are saying that after three
years of search you realized that being a coder is what you wanted to do all
your life." Amit grinned.

"I didn't say that. I'm still looking
for that answer. Who knows this might be it."

"Are you saying that you are here to
just try your hand and will quit if you get bored?" Ankit asked.

"Yes, but if this is it then I will
put my soul to it. I only do what my heart and mind wants me to do."

K winked at them. "You are too
cool."

"So tell me, what do you think about
Payal?" K asked. The question caught them by surprise. They looked at each
other.

"Now come on. We are guys, aren’t we? I
asked you because she reminded me of my ex-wife."

"Ex-wife? Why did you guys separate?"
Amit asked.

"Because she thought she was the only
bitch in the house." They laughed again.

"You are too funny man." Amit
said and continued laughing. "Payal is a bitch too." Ankit said.

"I thought so." K smiled.

K insisted that he pays the check. He also
asked them to join him for drinks at his house. "He is an awesome
guy". That's what they told Payal when she inquired about him. K spent the
rest of the day going through what he will have to do as part of his job.

"How was day one?" Vichitr asked
later that night when they met in his apartment.

"I had fun and so did the others I
hope. Enjoy your drink. I have some work to do tonight." he responded
focusing on his laptop and nimbly pressing the key strokes. He used his index
fingers typing amateurishly. "This is so much fun. I think you can go
home. Let's meet three days from now."

Vichitr made a sullen face.

"Trust me. I know what I am
doing."

He spent the whole night smoking weed,
glued to his laptop like a child gets hooked on to a video game.

"It's five am in the morning. You
haven't slept yet. What the fuck are you doing?" Creativity asked walking
gingerly into the living room.

"Don't disturb me. I'm in the middle
of something very important. Please go to bed."

She made an I-am-a-pissed-woman face and went
back sulking into the bedroom. For the next three days K never left his laptop,
whether he was in office or at home. It did not go well with both Creativity
and Vichitr.

"Did you hear about the oldie?"
Suruchi asked. She was in Vichitr's team and was seated next to him.

"Oldie? Who is that?"

"K. He joined Raman's team this
Monday. He came to the office this morning and had finished two weeks’ worth of
work that was assigned to him. It was flawless. Payal has gone gaga over the
brilliant piece of code he has written. Everyone in the office is talking about
him."

He got up from his seat and looked towards
the corner where K was seated. He was surrounded by five guys and was bowing
graciously to each one of them. Amit and Ankit were welcoming everyone who was
approaching him as if they were the gatekeepers to his kingdom. He thought for
a moment and then walked up to his seat. "Hi, I am Vichitr. I hear that
you have been able to impress Payal. Now that’s a tough job."

Payal giggled. "I tell you Vichitr.
You have to take a look at his work. It reminded me of you. Remember the
initial days when we were in the same team and started working together."

"Good to see you. What did you say
your name was? Vichitr? That's an odd name, isn't it?" K said and left everyone
in splits.

"What are you up to? Why are you so
friendly with those two idiots." Vichitr asked that evening, not holding
back his annoyance.

"I'm just trying to understand this
animal that you say is a programmer. Let me do my job. I'll tell you when the
moment is right."

He lit a cigarette.

"Professor, do you remember the class
of 12th when you had to leave the school? Do you remember those scared faces,
all but one. The faces that turned grey at the sheer sight of the mighty
K."

K raised his devilish eyebrow.

"Do you remember the student that was
trying to win your attention? Every time you asked a question, he knew the
answer, unfortunately he only knew it when you asked someone else, because when
you asked him, even if he knew, he could not respond. It was as if you could
read his brain, you peeped in, you studied what he would be able to respond to
and what he would not, not just his brain, but everybody else's. The mighty K,
the professor, the best out there, the only one out there."

K smiled gingerly and puffed on his
cigarette.

"Of course that was me. I vied for an
iota of appreciation from you but you never softened up. I scanned through
books, created questions, to find that one question that would stupefy you, to
bring you back to earth, but you had your ways, always, even at times when I
felt that you didn't know, you bewildered me with jargon and made me feel as if
you knew. That's what you make me feel like today."

K nodded pointing that he was in listening
mode.

"Let me tell you I was not scared of the
open ended exam that you had set. If you thought that was your chance to demean
me, it was my chance to prove you wrong. It was supposed to be your open ended
exam, not mine."

"My boy, I'm sorry that the exam was
cancelled and you never got your chance. But let me tell you, you had my
attention, at times, if that soothes your pain. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Amit
and Ankit are joining me today for drinks. I think you should leave now. They
will be here any moment."

"I have never worked with someone as
smart and bright as you. I think this should end your search. This is what you
wanted to do all your life." Amit said. They were a couple of drinks down.
Amit and Ankit were preparing for their MBAs and to help them K had proposed
that he would take care of their office work. No wonder they had started
calling him professor and were licking his ass.

"She is my girlfriend. I call her
Creativity. She lives with me." K said introducing her to the guests.
Creativity fixed another drink for both of them. As expected both men were left
awestruck. After a few more drinks, a sulking session on how their jobs sucked,
a denouncing session telling K how big a bitch Payal was and how their company
sucked Amit collapsed in his chair. "Let him sleep." K said. He
puffed on his cigarette and handed it to Ankit. "Can I ask you something?"

"My pleasure, professor."

"A two digit number n is reversed. The new
number is greater than n. The difference of these two numbers is five greater
than n. What is n?"

"What the fuck man. You are too funny."

He started laughing like a whore.

"It's been years since I left Mathematics.
Mathematics is shit. I wonder why they don’t simply teach us computers when in
school." Ankit continued to laugh. It filled K with immense rage. He
wanted to get up and smash his head. He maintained his calm.

After Ankit and Amit left he slipped in the
bed and held Creativity firmly. "I must tell you that I have gotten to the
root of it in just four days. Most of these men are dead. Dead meat. I have
only met two at the workplace who are worth their salt. You know what I was
thinking, the day I came here. I was thinking why this town is dead?"

"I have the answer now. This town is
dead because dead people live here. It's an irony that this town is famous for
the animal that lives here, the animal that the world thinks is a smart species
but to me these are just brain dead coders lurking around in abundance. The
company I am working for and I am sure the others around are all full of
monkeys. Monkeys, who think they possess the smartest ass, jump to a conclusion
too soon, can't solve simple problems because they lack the basic problem
solving skills. Monkeys, who talk about writing code but think that Maths is
shit. I have discovered the connection between the questions and the
murders." K said fuming. His cheeks were red with the rage. Creativity's
eyes were wide open now. She felt scared. "Go ahead." she whispered.
K started laughing. She was startled by this sudden change in the expression.

"I'm sorry. I was just enacting Math
the Ripper. I don't know why it did not occur to me before. The question that
was found with the dead body was the question that Math the Ripper had posed.
They died because they failed to answer the question."

"Unbelievable!" she said.

"I can picture him now. I'll share
this revelation with Vichitr tomorrow. I see him. I know exactly how he feels.
He is good at what he does and detests the morons around him. They make him
sick. I have his psychic profile painted in my mind."

"I hope you remember that you are not
going to work tomorrow".

It was not by choice but force that K took
the Friday off. "Take tomorrow off or I'll leave" Creativity had told
him coldly the previous night. It was hard to stay away from the case and his
work but he didn't want to risk his sex life. It was a matter of one day. He
was making love when his phone rang. His instincts told him that the call was
about the case. He resisted the temptation to pick the phone up and thrust hard
to distract himself. He was right. Had he picked up, he would have known that
the number this time was thirteen, he would have known that Math the Ripper had
struck again. The phone rang again confirming his suspicion. "I know where
your mind is" she said smiling. "Go, pick it up."

He kissed her and jumped out of the bed.
The phone had stopped ringing. He called Vichitr but couldn't reach him. He
tried again but in vain. His curiosity got the better of him. "I'm going
to his house. Do you want to come along?"

"No, I will stay here." she said.

He rushed to Vichitr's house. It took
thirty minutes to find the place. Vichitr's dad welcomed him and told him that
Vichitr was in fact on his way to meet K. "Yes, you guessed it right. There
has been one more murder. The victim's name is Ankit. Vichitr told me that he
was in your team."

K jumped from his chair. "Ankit?"

"That is sad. He was with me
yesterday." he said enacting sorrow. Deep inside he felt nothing. "I
think we can catch the ripper. I think I understand his psyche."

A phone started to ring. Vichitr's father
got up and rushed towards the corner room. "Just a minute, in the mean
while why don't you fix a drink for yourself? Just use the panel to make your selection.
It's simple touch screen." he said pointing towards the mini-bar.

"Panel?"

K got up and moved towards the bar. It was
similar to the mini-bars that are usually found at home, yet it was different.
The liquor bottles were locked behind a glass. Their mouths were all connected
to small white pipes that went behind the wall. When he got close to the mini-bar
a tablet came to life and presented him with options. The options listed all
the varieties of liquor that he could see in front on him behind the glass. He could
afford a smile. He touched the tablet to select Glenfiddich. The next screen
presented him three options. 30 ml, 60
ml, and 90 ml. He touched 60 ml. Straight, On the Rocks, and With Water
were the next options. He touched On the
rocks. As soon as he did that the numbers one to six floated in front of
him. He touched four. "Preparing your drink, please wait" a female
voice popped up. A tiny window opened up in the wall and the drink was pushed
out. It was as if there was someone behind that wall who had prepared the drink.
“Enjoy your drink”. K stood there startled and picked up the drink. "Isn’t
that beautiful? Vichitr created it for me last year on my birthday."

K turned around. He took a sip of his drink
and that’s when he felt the hair on his arms raise. There was a sudden buzz in
his ears. The neurons were in action. His palms were sweaty and the glass
almost fell out of his hands. He gulped down his drink in one shot. "I
need to leave. There is something urgent that has come up."

"You were about to tell me
something."

"Later." he said and rushed
out.

Vichitr was at his apartment waiting for
him. "I give up. I don't think I can help you, I don't think I'll be able
to catch him. You are wasting your time with me. I'll be leaving
tomorrow." K said shaking his head. "This town bites me and I can't
stand it anymore. I want to leave this cemetery."

He shook hands with him. "The mighty K
gives up. That's news. Stay for few more days. Tomorrow is going to be the sea
food day."

"I’m sorry but I hate the food."

"You have let me down. I really thought
you'd be able to nab the killer."

"In some other world, I have." he
said and started packing his bags.

They were back in their sweet little home.
"OK, now that we are back please tell me. Why did you leave? I thought you
were getting there. This is the first time in my life that I have seen you run
away from a problem." Creativity asked. K smiled and rolled a joint.

"It was my open ended exam. My dear,
there are as many worlds as minds. Don't worry, Math the Ripper is at peace,
happy in his world that he got the better of me. I promise no one will die from
this point on. It was a test I was better off failing." he kissed her and
unbuttoned her shirt.

the way you write is always wonderful.. the scenes play out in the mind.. the conversations are interesting and then the names of your characters are always Vichitr :D I had a good laugh @ Vichitr ! my crib is "Creativity".. she seemed redundant.. perhaps the story needed some masala.. so hmm..I'd guessed the murderer but was glued till the end with interest.. so thats a huge plus.. enjoyed the story :)